For Immediate Release

Washington, DC-Imagine a world in which people no longer debate public policy
issues for fear of being sued by their opponents. That is the goal of a lawsuit
filed by the Michigan Education Association (MEA) and its president alleging
that the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy "misappropriated" his
"likeness" by quoting him in a letter. And while the lawsuit itself is clearly
frivolous, the MEA's willingness to run roughshod over the First Amendment to
silence its opponents signals an alarming escalation in the union's battle
against meaningful education reform in Michigan. Today, the Washington,
D.C.-based Institute for Justice announced its plans to defend the Mackinac
Center's right to free speech.

On September 27, 2001, the president of the Michigan Education Association,
Luigi Battaglieri, announced at a press conference the opening of a new
organization called the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.
As became clear during his remarks, a major objective of the MEA-funded and
MEA-governed group will be to defend the status quo by criticizing Mackinac
Center research and recommendations. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a
14-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research institute that studies state
and local policy questions on topics including education, labor law, fiscal
policy, economic development and the environment. In laying out his vision for
the Great Lakes Center, Battaglieri candidly acknowledged the Mackinac Center's
prominent role in providing education research to the public:

I know what's in your minds - I think I've worked with the media enough that I
expect the headline is going to be that the MEA takes on the Mackinac Center. .
. . I guess I expect their reaction to be one where they will welcome us as new
kids on the block to enter into the field that they've been into for a number of
years now, and I assume they're going to scrutinize our research just as much as
we've scrutinized theirs. And so, quite frankly, I admire what they have done
over the last couple of years entering into the field as they have and being
pretty much the sole provider of research to the community, to the public, to
our members, to legislators, and so on. . . . [T]hose of us in the educational
community, for being in the business of educating, we've done a poor job in my
opinion in the past of educating the public about all the good things that are
going on in public education. (emphasis added)

Pleasantly surprised by these words of praise from a leading opponent, Mackinac
Center President Lawrence Reed quoted Battaglieri in a year-end letter
describing the Center's accomplishments and seeking support for the coming year:

By all measures the Mackinac Center has had an outstanding year and the people
of Michigan are the beneficiaries. But you don't need to take my word for it.

This fall Luigi Battaglieri, president of the Michigan Education Association,
stated, "Frankly, I admire what the Mackinac Center has done." Mr. Battaglieri,
whose union is generally at odds with the Mackinac Center, said this with
respect to how Mackinac Center research has shaped education reform in Michigan
and around the nation.

Shortly thereafter, the Mackinac Center received a threatening letter from the
MEA's lawyer, who accused the Center of "distorting" Battaglieri's views and
demanded that the Center turn over a list of anyone who had ever received any
solicitation from the Mackinac Center in which Battaglieri's or the Michigan
Education Association's names were used. Explaining that it had done nothing
wrong, the Mackinac Center correctly noted that the use of Battaglieri's remarks
"in a non-profit fundraising letter dealing with political issues" was fully
protected by the First Amendment. Battaglieri and the MEA filed suit anyway,
claiming that the Mackinac Center, supported entirely by voluntary
contributions, had "misappropriated" their likenesses for its own commercial
benefit. Taking a page from the bullying tactics of anti-reformers against the
civil rights movement in the 1950s, the MEA again demanded the Mackinac Center's
mailing list. In addition, the union seeks for itself all of the donations sent
by Mackinac Center supporters in response to the disputed letter, and the MEA
has also asked the court to slap a permanent gag order on the Center forbidding
it from using its or its officials' names or identities in future solicitations.
For anyone committed to the principle of free expression and the marketplace of
ideas, it would be deeply troubling if this lawsuit had a legal leg to stand on.

Fortunately, it does not.

"The idea that a public policy organization has to get permission from its
opponents to quote them is ludicrous," said Clark Neily, an Institute for
Justice senior attorney. "The First Amendment case law on this point is so clear
that it makes you wonder what's really going on here. If the MEA and its leaders
think they can silence speech they don't like with frivolous lawsuits like this
one, they are sadly mistaken."

"The truth speaks for itself," said Joseph Overton, the Mackinac Center's senior
vice president. "Lu Battaglieri said, `I admire what they have done over the
last couple years,' referring to the Mackinac Center. We merely accurately
repeated the union president's statement."

"The MEA's tactics are reminiscent of the anti-civil rights movement of the
1950s," said Chip Mellor, president of the Institute for Justice. "The MEA will
use any means of intimidation it can think of-from demanding Mackinac's mailing
lists to abusing the judicial system-to quash any voice for reform. The MEA's
goal is to intimidate supporters of the Mackinac Center. But just like in the
1950s, the bullies will lose this fight."

Teachers' unions are using these bullying tactics now in anticipation of the
U.S. Supreme Court's school choice decision. If the Court sides for choice, the
unions know the battle for education reform and accountability will return to
the state level, and they are launching a preemptive strike to silence any voice
for choice.

"Independent Mackinac Center research threatens the MEA's bottom line; that is
why the union is going after us," said Joseph Lehman, Mackinac Center executive
vice president. "Mackinac Center research has shown some of the harmful effects
of compulsory unionism and has proposed that unions should receive money only
from people who genuinely and voluntarily support the union. But the union would
rather use force than reason."

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[NOTE: To arrange interviews on this subject, journalists may call John Kramer,
the Institute for Justice's vice president for communications, at (202)
955-1300.]